Report: Netanyahu Wants Biden Iran Security Pledge in Saudi Deal

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants President Joe Biden's pledge to include a security agreement which deters Iran while agreeing to a deal with Saudi Arabia that the United States is seeking, Axios reports.

U.S. and Israeli officials told the news outlet that the deal would have to include stronger security guarantees for Israel as Iran expands its nuclear program in return for a peace deal with the Arab nation by the end of the year.

According to the report, Netanyahu brought up the condition during a July phone call with Biden and said he would dispatch the Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer to Washington, D.C., with a detailed proposal addressing a potential military threat from Iran.

The report said the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, has advised Congress that Iran may be just a few months from building a nuclear device if they choose to.

Although the specifics of the proposed Israeli agreement have not yet been disclosed, a National Security Council spokesperson told the publication that the U.S. is working to "support for full normalization with Israel" and "to talk to our regional partners [in the Middle East] about how more progress can be made."

"Normalization and the details of any agreement reached have to be decided by two sovereign states," the spokesperson said in the report.

Meanwhile, the deal on the table with Saudi Arabia could include a provision where a military attack on that nation would be backed up by the United States in a manner similar to NATO's Article 5, which considers an attack on one member nation to be an attack on all member nations, resulting in retaliation.

The report said that U.S. officials balked at that provision in the agreement, but that they could agree to back a security plan with a smaller scope.

Al Jezeera reported Wednesday that White House spokesman John Kirby said a shared framework of the deal is still being negotiated, and nothing has been agreed to by those involved.

"There's still a lot of discussing to happen here," Kirby told reporters. "There is no agreed-to set of negotiations, there's no agreed-to framework to codify normalization or any of the other security considerations that we and our friends have in the region."

U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters on Wednesday that the parties have held "productive conversations," and more talks are scheduled.

"We've made progress on a number of issues. I'm not going to get into what the progress is, but it is still a long road to go, with an uncertain future," Miller said during a news briefing.